Covid-19 and your car
THE world is unsettled. Coronavirus has put many businesses on the back foot and while most companies have implemented work-from-home policies to reduce the spread of the pandemic, the truth is that the transport and logistics sector cannot work from home. Drivers in particular are at great risk of contracting Covid-19 and it is therefore critical that companies involved in the sector do their best to keep drivers (and receivers) as safe as possible.
Drivers in B2B and B2C will find the following information useful, while if you run a fleet, you’ll want to take heed of the advice too.
KEEP THINGS CLEAN
We have to start by saying it again: wash those hands and keep contact points sanitised.
A rigid policy of sanitising your hands every time you enter or leave a building or come into contact with another person is important, says managing director of MasterDrive Eugene Herbert.
He explains, though, washing alone may not be effective enough: “If you were to sanitise your hands in the car after an interaction with someone, by the time you do this, you could potentially have brought the virus into the car already.”
Ensuring your vehicle remains sanitised should be done in a number of steps:
1) Wash your hands for
20 seconds before leaving on each trip.
2) If you receive stock or other items during the day, spray or wipe it down with disinfectant as well as any areas other people may have been in contact with upon collection.
3) Consider using rubber gloves when items are handed to you directly.
4) Ideally, try to wash and sanitise your hands when leaving, but if you do not have access to hand-washing facilities, just sanitise them.
5) Keep a plastic bag that you can place items like used gloves into and carefully dispose of this at the end of each day.
6) At the end of your shift or errand, disinfect the car so that either yourself or a co-driver can use the car with peace of mind.
The areas that need to be cleaned with an alcohol-based disinfectant include the door, door handles, dashboard, steering wheel, gear shift lever, handbrake, radio, infotainment system, arm rests and the seat.
Do not forget areas you or someone else may have touched such as the levers controlling items like indicators, the rear-view mirror, the levers that move the seats and even fuel cards.
If someone travels with you for a short period, do not forget to sanitise anything they have touched on their exit.